2000•RePEc: Research Papers in EconomicsOpen access

How Much Would Increasing the Minimum Wage Affect Food Prices?

Chinkook Lee, Gerald Emil Schluter, Brian O'Roark, Lee, Chinkook, Schluter, Gerald E., O'Roark, Brian

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Abstract

Will increasing the minimum wage increase food prices as well? This study shows that a simulated $0.50 increase in the minimum wage, if entirely passed on to consumers, would have increased food prices by less than 1 percent for most of the foods at foodstores and by 1 percent at eating and drinking places. Because these estimates were simulated using an economic model that assumed that firms did not alter their production processes when faced with higher minimum wages, these estimates are likely "upward bounds" of the price effects of a minimum wage increase.

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Will increasing the minimum wage increase food prices as well? This study shows that a simulated $0.50 increase in the minimum wage, if entirely passed on to consumers, would have increased food prices by less than 1 percent for most of the foods at foodstores and by 1 percent at eating and drinking places. Because these estimates were simulated using an economic model that assumed that firms did not alter their production processes when faced with higher minimum wages, these estimates are likely "upward bounds" of the price effects of a minimum wage increase.

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Available abstract

Will increasing the minimum wage increase food prices as well? This study shows that a simulated $0.50 increase in the minimum wage, if entirely passed on to consumers, would have increased food prices by less than 1 percent for most of the foods at foodstores and by 1 percent at eating and drinking places. Because these estimates were simulated using an economic model that assumed that firms did not alter their production processes when faced with higher minimum wages, these estimates are likely "upward bounds" of the price effects of a minimum wage increase.

Key concepts: Minimum wage, Economics, Affect (linguistics), Wage, Food prices, Production (economics), Labour economics, Microeconomics

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